Supreme Court decision: Adultery is no longer a criminal affair
On Thursday, the Supreme Court declared that the 158-year old Section 497 of the IPC is unconstitutional. As a result, adultery is no longer a criminal affair. The old law punished a married man for the offence of adultery if he had sexual relationships with a married woman. “without the consent or connivance of her husband.”
The Supreme Court added that adultery could still continue to be a ground for divorce. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices R F Nariman, A M Kanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra said, “When parties to a marriage lose their moral commitment to a relationship, it creates a dent in the marriage and it will depend upon the parties how to deal with the situation. Some may exonerate and live together and some may seek divorce…A punishment is unlikely to establish commitment.” With this, they rebutted the argument that Section 497 worked as a deterrent against spouses going astray.
The SC maintained that adultery could continue to be a substantial ground for divorce. But on the other hand, if one of the spouses committed suicide because of the adulterous nature of his/her parents, then the culprit could be proceeded against for the criminal offence of abetting suicide.
This decision of the Supreme Court was actually in favour of women, unlike what some individuals are saying. It is not a hindrance to women but rather liberates them. According to Section 497, the woman is considered to be a property of the husband. They are actors with no agency of their own. This section was an insult to the rights of the women of the country. Thus, with the aid of the Supreme Court, adultery is no longer a criminal affair.
This archaic law of punishing unhappy adults for their personal decision, not causing direct physical harm to any party and demeaning the status of women has long out-lived its tenure. Adultery is no longer a criminal affair and this decision is a wise one taken the SC.
